Rubik's Cube
by s.j. snodgrass
Summary: As his hands worked at the cube, Hannibal looked over the diagrams in front of him. What is that? Its fascinating. He asked. Mr. Jakov nodded. That is the Wound Man, and the one below it is The Bloody Eagle. And that? That is Cannibalism.


A/N: Yet another Hannibal Rising fic. Ugh. I'm slowly being carried away by the popular story right now…….Anyway, Hannibal is, once again, not mine. If you find any enjoyment in this whatsoever, please review. (And yes, i know the real Rubik's Cube wasn't invented till the 70's. So sue me!)

Mr. Jakov, Jewish tutor of young Hannibal Lecter, sat at his desk in his room, formerly occupied by Hannibal's uncle, and awaited his student. He had on his desk a neat stack of paper's with several math problems that may prove to be too difficult for the young Lecter, and in his hands he held a small box. On the side of the desk he was anticipating Hannibal's presence in were a worn book of various medical diagrams from early medical practices, and a book of poems he had unearthed from his own collection. He also had a copy of Dante's woks set out, something he knew would interest Hannibal.

When Hannibal finally entered the room, Mr. Jakov glanced at the sunlight on the windowsill, a method of telling time he shared with Hannibal, and said, "You're late."

Peculiar child that he was, Hannibal did not respond with an excuse, nor did he respond at all for a few moments. He crossed the room and sat down, holding his left hand up for Mr. Jakov to see. On his second middle finger was a bloody bandage. "I was helping Cook, and I got careless." He replied, not taking his eyes off of Mr. Jakov, and not trying to induce pity.

In return, Mr. Jakov didn't give him any pity. Instead he said, "That is an interesting medical trait you have." Then he waved the subject away and put the box he had in his hands on top of the desk. Hannibal looked down at it, then his maroon eyes flickered back to Mr. Jakov. Jakov nodded, and Hannibal picked up the box and set it in his lap. He opened it and procured from it a small wooden cube.

The cube was small, not much larger than Hannibal's fist. It had little squares all over its surface. These were all a different colors. When Hannibal explored the cube, he found that by turning it some of, but not all of, the colors would match up together.

"It's a puzzle cube. A gift. I thought you might like it." Mr. Jakov said, one of his rare smiles showing. Hannibal smiled back at him for a few moments and looked down at the cube, twisting it in different directions and getting a feel for it.

He then looked up at Mr. Jakov and his eyes did a sweep over the rest of the desk's contents.

"Thank you, Mr. Jakov. And while on the subject of appreciation, might I ask if that is Dante sitting atop your desk?" Hannibal asked, smiling with his eyes, his hands still turning the cube in his lap.

Mr. Jakov reached across the desk and handed the book to Hannibal. "Dante's Inferno, to be exact. And these medical diagrams are yours to look at as well. I thought you might like them." He tapped the diagrams and Hannibal leaned forward to look at them, his head cocked to the side while listening to Mr. Jakov and his hands still working at the cube.

"What is this one?" Hannibal asked, looking at the first diagram.

"That is the Wound Man. And the one below it is called the Bloody Eagle, more of a ritualistic display." Mr. Jakov explained as Hannibal looked over the Wound Man and a particularly gruesome display of a man with his lungs pulled out to look like wings.

"Fascinating. And this one, what is it? I can't read it. It looks like symbols. Hieroglyphs?" Hannibal was directing his attention to a diagram of a man with several of his body parts taken from his body, some of them in the hands of men.

"Ah." Mr. Jakov grimaced internally. He had not intended on putting this in the group. Not because he underestimated Hannibal's capacity to understand the things he taught, but because the boy's mother would probably disapprove of the content.

"That is an act of Cannibalism depicted by the Egyptians before the reign of the god Osiris. The legend says that the Egyptians ate their own people until Osiris showed them how to cultivate the land and grow crops." Mr. Jakov said, watching for Hannibal's reaction.

Hannibal stared at the paper for a few moments, then he sighed. He was processing something in his mind, Mr. Jakov just was unaware of what.

Clearing his throat, Mr. Jakov changed the subject. "Here are some math problems I drew up for you." He passed the papers to Hannibal, who took them in one hand, set them on the desk, and began to do the problem. One hand writing, the other fiddling with the puzzle clue.

At the end of their lesson time, Hannibal handed the finished papers, diagrams, and Dante's Inferno back to Mr. Jakov. Mr. Jakov, however, handed Dante's Inferno back to Hannibal, receiving a smile in return.

"Thank you for today, Mr. Jakov. Thank you especially for Dante. Good day. I'll be here on time tomorrow." Hannibal inclined his head toward Mr. Jakov, always polite, and headed for the door. Then he stopped, and went back to the desk.

"I almost forgot." He placed the cube back on Mr. Jakov's desk, all of the colors lined up together on each side. Blue on one side, orange on another, red, green, white and black.

Mr. Jakov smiled in satisfaction, and as Hannibal took one last look at the diagram of the Wound Man, he left.


End file.
